Activists: Massacre in Syria kills more than 100BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists reported a new massacre late Thursday in the central Hama province, saying regime forces killed more than 100 people in shelling and other attacks. There were few details on the attack, which was reported by the Local Coordination Committees activist group and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory said it was aware of up to 100 killed from sources on the ground, but the group had ...

9 dead in Mont Blanc summer avalancheCHAMONIX, France (AP) — They set out before dawn, hoping to conquer a mountaineering classic: Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s highest peak. But below the prized summit, a climber is believed to have accidentally caused a slab of ice to snap off, triggering an avalanche Thursday that swept nine climbers to their deaths and injured a dozen others. As the sheet of snow and ice thundered down the steep slope, several other climbers managed to turn aw...

Arrrgh: It’s a bad news day for London’s OlympicsLONDON (AP) — With the Olympics just two weeks away, embarrassing logistical problems about security, staff, phones and traffic made the mood Thursday in London as gloomy as the weather. British lawmakers clamored for an explanation of why the armed forces need to field more troops to protect the games, eclipsing the day that U.S. track star Michael Johnson held the Olympic flame aloft at sunrise at the ancient monument at Stonehenge. London’s...

Guantanamo drug probe raises new questionsSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A newly released Pentagon report says there is no evidence that officials at Guantanamo Bay used mind-altering drugs to interrogate prisoners, but lawyers for men held at the U.S. base in Cuba said Thursday that the findings still raise troubling questions. The report by the Department of Defense Inspector General found that some detainees were interrogated while they were also being treated by doctors at the priso...

UN envoy presses Syrian peace plan with Iran, IraqBAGHDAD (AP) — The U.N.’s special envoy on the Syrian crisis sought to build support for his peace efforts Tuesday with the leaders of Iran and Iraq, saying President Bashar Assad has agreed to a plan to quell the bloodshed in the most violent areas of Syria and then expand the operation to the whole country. Top diplomat Kofi Annan said at a news conference in Iran that the plan still must be presented to the Syrian opposition. But he said hi...

UK police charge 3 more men with terror offensesLONDON (AP) — Three men were accused in a British court Tuesday of building a makeshift bomb and making other preparations for a terrorist attack against the far-right English Defense League. Hours later, police charged three other men arrested in the same case with the same terrorism offenses. All six were among seven men arrested last week in central England after a search of an impounded vehicle turned up hidden guns and other weapons, prom...

Egypt’s president flexes power, but cautiouslyCAIRO (AP) — The faceoff between Egypt’s new Islamist president and the old guard military sharpened Tuesday, with parliament defying orders to disband and the highest court slapping back at Mohammed Morsi in what has become an early glimpse into how he may flex his power. Morsi’s rapid-fire moves against Egypt’s entrenched institutions show he is willing to push back against the establishment left over from the era of deposed President Hosni ...

Libyans hold 1st nationwide vote in decadesTRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Jubilant Libyans chose a new parliament Saturday in their first nationwide vote in decades, but violence and protests in the restive east underscored the challenges ahead as the oil-rich North African nation struggles to restore stability after last year’s ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Women ululated, while men distributed sweets and the elderly with canes or wheelchairs struggled to get to polling centers ...

Afghan donors meet, expected to pledge $16B in aidTOKYO (AP) — An international donor meeting for Afghanistan that is expected to bring pledges of $16 billion in aid over the next four years has begun in Tokyo. The meeting, attended by about 70 countries and organizations, will set aid levels in a crucial period for Afghanistan as most foreign combat troops leave the war-torn country. U.S. officials traveling with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said they expected the donors to pled...

Students march against Mexico’s election resultMEXICO CITY (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Mexico’s capital on Saturday to protest Enrique Pena Nieto’s apparent win in the country’s presidential election, accusing his long ruling party of buying votes. The protesters were angered by allegations that Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party gave out bags of groceries, pre-paid gift cards and other goods to voters ahead of July 1 national elections. The students, unio...

US declares Afghanistan major non-NATO allyKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Obama administration on Saturday declared Afghanistan the United States’ newest “major non-NATO ally,” an action designed to facilitate close defense cooperation after U.S. combat troops withdraw from the country in 2014 and as a political statement of support for Afghanistan’s long-term stability. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who arrived in Kabul on an unannounced visit to meet Afghan President...

Pakistan: Gunmen kill 18 at roadside restaurantQUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire at a roadside restaurant in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing 18 people, officials said. In the northwest, a U.S. drone strike killed 12 suspected militants near the Afghan border. The people killed in the restaurant attack in the remote town of Turbat in Baluchistan province were Pakistanis travelling with smugglers to Europe through neighboring Iran, said Abdul Razzaq, a govern...

Pena Nieto’s win confirmed by Mexico vote countMEXICO CITY (AP) — The official count in Mexico’s presidential election concluded on Friday with results showing that former ruling party candidate Enrique Pena Nieto won by a 6.6 percentage-point margin, almost exactly the same lead as a vote-night quick count gave him. The final count by the country’s electoral authority, which included a ballot-by-ballot recount at more than half of polling places, showed Pena Nieto getting 38.21 percent of...

US, allies press Assad as top Syrian general fleesPARIS (AP) — A top Syrian general’s defection is the first major crack in the upper echelons of President Bashar Assad’s regime, buoying a 100-nation conference Friday meant to intensify pressure for his removal, as well as an opposition desperate to bring him down but frustrated by diplomatic efforts. All hoped the defection of Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, an Assad confidant and son of a former defense minister who helped ease Assad into power, wo...

Argentina convicts 2 dictators of stealing babiesBUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The conviction of two former dictators for the systematic stealing of babies from political prisoners 30 years ago is a big step in Argentina’s effort to punish that era’s human rights abuses, though certainly not the last. Following Thursday’s convictions of Rafael Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, at least 17 other major cases are before judges or are nearing trial. Among them is a “mega-trial” involving the Navy Me...

Romania president impeached amid EU, US concernBUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian lawmakers impeached President Traian Basescu in an overwhelming vote Friday, paving the way for a national referendum that could see the divisive and increasingly unpopular leader ousted from the powerful position he’s held for eight years. The vote of 256-114 in parliament came as Basescu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta have engaged in a bitter power struggle in the eastern European country of 19 million, wh...

UK: 7 terror suspects arrested after guns foundLONDON (AP) — Seven men have been arrested on suspicion of terrorist offenses in Britain after a routine vehicle search in northern England turned up firearms and weapons, police said Friday. The arrests, which took place earlier this week, were announced one day after officers in London detained six other terror suspects using stun guns and smoke grenades in early-morning swoops, including one on a home close to London’s Olympic Park. Police ...

Rain, rain go away: A London slog for Olympics?LONDON (AP) — After a sodden spring, is Britain heading for a summer washout? It’s lurched from the cold, wet drizzle that dampened the queen’s Diamond Jubilee flotilla on the Thames to a sea of mud at the Isle of Wight music festival to frequent delays at Wimbledon, where even the retractable roof couldn’t make the event all strawberries and cream. And now that the country has recorded its wettest June on record, should Olympic officials be c...

Tensions in Libya ahead of first post-Gadhafi voteTRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Fears of militia violence and calls for a boycott threatened Friday to mar Libya’s first nationwide parliamentary election, a milestone on the oil-rich North African nation’s rocky path toward democracy after the ouster of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Saturday’s vote for a 200-member transitional parliament caps a tumultuous nine-month transition toward democracy for the country after a bitter civil war that ended with the c...

Elite counterdrug units proposed for MexicoBOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The top security adviser for Mexico’s next president said Friday that he is recommending the creation of elite units of police and troops who will target not just major drug traffickers but also lower-level cartel hitmen as a way of swiftly reducing violence. The proposal newly retired Colombian police director Gen. Oscar Naranjo explained in an interview with The Associated Press offers a glimpse of how President-elect...